


Ocean’s Storm

by W1F1N1GHTM4R3



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: (or like a whole bunch of them but not directly stated), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, F/F, Gen, Hopefully this will actually be a long story, Trans Female Character, Welcome to another edition of w1f1 uses really fancy descriptions for no reason, also my concept of merfolk is not the usual kind they’re less human than you’d expect, i created an entire city and a weird system of society for this oops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22580959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W1F1N1GHTM4R3/pseuds/W1F1N1GHTM4R3
Summary: Two hopeless sisters. A girl offering to save them.A blind princess. The human who drives her to change it all.A city under the ocean, unaware of the storm about to shake their world.
Relationships: Aoba Moca/Imai Lisa
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	1. Jump

**Author's Note:**

> Hi welcome to what will hopefully be a long term fic I’ll actually finish! Since I know where I’m going with it, mostly, it should eventually get there. I know the important points for sure! This first chapter is a bit shorter than I plan for future chapters to hopefully be. If I can manage to write that much, of course.
> 
> Considering I made up a weird society system and an entire set of terms for this universe, I’m gonna give you a quick summary of how this works first, so it makes... more sense? You could skip this wall of text and get straight to the fic here if you want to, I understand.
> 
> Basically, there’s a system of ranks, ranging from 0 to 10, but 0 and 10 aren’t officially named or considered a part of the scale. 0 is the very lowest, usually known as “rankless”, because they’re cast out of society and no longer considered even within the system anymore. Usually it’s only used for the extremely monstrous merfolk or those who are considered useless, due to serious disability (the only exceptions to this are 10s like yukina, who would normally be cast out but because of special cases has not been). 10 is for the rulers of the city, essentially royalty! They’re a very very small group, just yukina, a handful of siblings, and her parents.
> 
> And then there’s the rest of the system:  
> 1- Eiterrei  
> 2- Duxoryn  
> 3- Triima  
> 4- Fortanme  
> 5- Criceon  
> 6- Xitesen  
> 7- Sevralet  
> 8- Ocaer  
> 9- Niumara
> 
> I don’t expect you to be able to pronounce these in any specific way, just do it however you feel like. They’re made up words anyway!
> 
> Generally the main identifier of someone’s rank is a combination of certain parts of their appearance (it’s very common to see low ranks with very simple clothes and short hair, while obviously high ranks are the opposite), but sometimes there’s a bit of a gray area between that can be confusing.
> 
> So anyway if that was too much for you, basically, weird ranking system with a bunch of fancy names.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

It all starts in a flurry of torn, multicolored fins.

Rinko is out in the lower reaches of the city, along with a small set of guards. Because of course, why could she get down here alone, when she sits at the top of the ranks, below only the royal family themselves, and supposedly it is incredibly dangerous? She’s partially on a search for someone to hire as a personal guard, but also to understand what life is really like this low down, if she wants to involve herself in the slow sabotage of the ranking system. Those are a bit tied together, anyway. Most merfolk of her rank would just hire someone from the middle ranks and train them as a guard, but Rinko wants to find someone who’s already proved themselves skilled and worthy. Saves the time of having to train them both for fighting and for acting the right way around important people, if they already know how to do the former. And if that means going down to the depths of the city and finding herself some low ranks who don’t deserve the suffering they live through, that’s what she’ll do.

So she’s down here with some of her family’s guards, sort of just exploring. That is, until a beat-up kid swims over slowly, then suddenly moves in a flash, darting up to one of Rinko’s guards before turning and fleeing incredibly fast.

For someone who’s fins are practically shredded in places, the kid moves smoothly and quickly, even when it seems like they shouldn’t be able swim like that. Especially so, after Rinko realizes they took a weapon from one of her guards.

Everything moves in a rush after that, Rinko’s guards taking after the kid, through the crowded streets. But this kid is fast, knows their way around, and, while not small (they’re clearly larger than Rinko herself), is smaller than her guards and wiggling their way around people. Yet, they’re not going down into the deepest parts of the city, despite a clear standing at the bottom of the ranks. They’re going up, towards the blended section between the lower and middle arenas.

Finally, the chase ends, Rinko struggling to catch up as her guards are confronted by someone.

A someone who is very large, with scars down their arms and tail, ripped red and purple fins, and glaring scarlet eyes, one of which is completely hidden under thick, dark red hair. They’ve taken up a protective stance in front of the thief, who they resemble quite a lot, besides that the thief is smaller and has a wild mane of short purple curls instead of red.

“Back away,” the larger one snarls, “If you so much as lay a hand on her, I’ll kill you myself.”

They almost sound... resigned, if that’s even possible for someone threatening to kill. Like this has happened before, quite a number of times, and they’re not happy to do it, but they’re prepared to. Their voice has a sharpness to it though, that conflicts with the tiredness of how they said their words.

They then turn to the girl behind them, and sigh, “Ako, return what you took.” The anger in their voice gives way to gentle annoyance.

She huffs, surprisingly cutely, considering she’s one of the most monstrous merfolk Rinko has ever seen. It also makes a threatening amount of blade-sharp teeth slightly stick out over her bottom lip. “But sis, we need the money! You know that, we need anything we can to at least get us onto the scale at all!” Despite the energy in her voice, she’s speaking very quietly. Rinko only barely hears it, but she does hear it all the same.

“Yes, I know that! But I’ve told you a million times, you can’t do it by stealing things! You’re going to get yourself hurt or killed or they’ll trace our connections and kill everyone we know and love and then us ourselves because you took something and couldn’t return it. So give it back.”

Ako reluctantly hands the sword to her sister, who then hands it over to one of the guards. It gets passed back to its original owner from there.

Rinko can’t help but ponder on their words. Are they... are they rankless, somehow? She supposes it makes sense, considering their monstrous, uncared-for appearances and ripped apart fins, but then they would have had to been born into it. But rankless children rarely live more than a few years, according to what Rinko’s heard. These sisters are clearly close to her own age! And they’re supposed to be thoughtless, vicious beings, incapable of kindness or reason.

Rinko really had thought these girls were just unfortunate eiterrei, just barely clinging to the bottom of the ranking system. But... maybe they’re not.

Yet, seeing how they must have survived so long, how determined they are to do whatever they can, she thinks she’s found what she needs.

————

Tomoe is practically trembling with relief as she watches the high ranking girl and what she assumes are the girl’s guards swim away. With that many guards with her, she must be a niumara, or an incredibly high ranking ocaer. Either way, that’s scary, and she could’ve easily had Ako killed. And Tomoe herself too, for protecting Ako. And if she managed to trace back to who kept them alive as long as they have, maybe even all four Ueharas.

It’s not like Tomoe and Ako should even be alive at all, anyway. Split from their parents and left to die when they were very young, dropped off the ranks entirely, fighting to survive for the many years since then. Yet, despite everything, they’re in shockingly good condition. Sure, Tomoe’s missing an eye, and there’s no such thing as a fully intact fin for either of them, but they’re somehow still going fine.

It’s probably mostly because of the Ueharas. They willingly took the fall out of the middle ranks to care for two little monster merfolk, putting the strain on themselves to not only have to work harder to keep themselves safe, but to care for four children on top of it all.

Tomoe’s glad for them, even though sometimes she just feels like she’s a burden on them. She wouldn’t have half the will she does now to stay alive without them, especially not without Himari. Something about that girl and her soft, pastel pink fins, she’s hard not to love, and she’s such a comfort to be around.

And speaking of the Ueharas, she’s now headed back to their home, Ako alongside her. She was on her way to begin with, before Ako nearly collided directly into her, carrying the stolen sword. So, onward they go, together this time.

As always when they get home, someone checks them over in case they’ve been hurt. Right now it’s just Himari, but it’s not like there’s anything to worry about. Tomoe was out doing whatever she could to help out and get a bit of money in the process, and besides that shadowy girl and her guards, she hadn’t seen anyone who’s above a fortanme, which is a pretty good sign and a lot less dangerous when she’s minding her own business. Some of the higher ranks, especially the kids, like to come down occasionally to torment and sometimes harm those at the bottom, so any time they don’t show up is a good time.

Ako might’ve been out trying to steal and sell things again, but considering she doesn’t seem to have any coins hidden in her clothes, the sword was all she tried to take, and she didn’t get into any other danger. Tomoe has no idea where her sister had been the rest of the time, but clearly she was safe, so it’s fine.

Himari’s green eyes light up with a smile as she realizes neither girl has any new injuries at all. “So, I’m going to guess nothing exciting happened then?”

Exciting usually is a bad thing at this point, after all.

“Well actually,” Tomoe laughs, “we did run into something kinda exciting, but not the usual kind.”

Himari flops down into a chair, wrapping her tail around part of it to keep herself in place. “You’ve gotta tell me, then! Give me all the details, you two. Don’t miss a single thing!”

The two sisters settle down too, and begin to recall the events that had just happened.

————

Rinko frustratedly paces Yukina’s room, pumping her tail in elegant, yet forceful strokes. The blind princess stares in Rinko’s general direction, trying to follow the ripples she feels against herself.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong, Rinko, or are you just going to keep doing this?” she hums. “I know you’re upset, but you haven’t said a word since you came in. You’re probably driving Sayo crazy.”

Sure enough, the guard is trying to keep her cool, but her mostly-torn-off fin is twitching, the tiny motions being the only physical sign of her annoyance (but a common one for her, all the same).

Rinko finally stops swimming around with a sigh, partially from the effort of constant intense motion, partially because her thoughts still aren’t completely sorted out. “It’s not that easy to explain, Yukina.”

“Just do your best.” She flaps her tail impatiently.

So Rinko starts to talk. It sounds more like one of her internal monologues than her normal way of speaking, and it’s definitely an out-of-order scramble of her thoughts, but Yukina and the twins listen patiently.

When she finishes, Yukina responds immediately. “Talk to them.” While she rarely takes up the commanding presence of her role as the future leader of the city, with her small size and normally quiet manner of speech, she certainly fills it here. “Ask those girls if they want to work for you. If they’re really off the ranks, or even at the very bottom of them, they’ll probably accept with minimal hesitation.”

“Obviously!” Hina chirps, breaking her continuous silence. “I mean, I was pretty excited when Yukina-san asked us to work for her, and we weren’t even going up for doing it, being xitesen and all. Those girls are definitely going up with you, there’s no way they won’t take such a boppin’ offer.” She stops her chatter when her sister hits her arm.

It’s good advice... but it’s not like Rinko is confident enough to do that.

Yukina keeps staring at her, waiting for a response. Right, right, the princess can’t see Rinko’s disappointed expression.

“Y-you know it doesn’t work like that for me, Yukina... I’m not like you are, I can’t just go up to someone and... push my power on them.”

“I know you can do it, if you care enough to come to me to talk about this. You have to get over this eventually, and now is a good place to start. And if you’re worried about not being able to get them approved for training, you know you can always use me to get through it.”

There’s no denying any of that. Yukina’s expression is as impossible to read as ever, but there’s a calm sweetness in her voice now and Rinko is pretty sure Yukina would smile if she could.

Yukina’s golden tail wraps itself around Rinko’s deep black one. She pulls Rinko in, and gently pokes her face with a claw. “Just get out there and do it. Get yourself those girls.”

Rinko fights back a laugh. Yukina really just did that, huh. It’s always a little uncomfortable when they’re this close, because she’s usually staring straight into Yukina’s hollow white eyes or trying to avoid eye contact and focusing on the sparkling gold scales dotting her face or her jewelry of the day instead, but it’s less awkward when Yukina drops some of the ice-cold princess act.

It takes Sayo to practically untangle them for Yukina to release her grip at all. “Let Shirokane-san go, Yukina-san. She has things to attend to, and so do you.”

Well, Rinko doesn’t actually have any real plans right now. Maybe Yukina does.

She should return home and start tracking down those monstrous girls, though. The sooner she learns where to find them, the sooner she can talk to them before she loses any confidence to do it.


	2. Archives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rinko takes a trip to the Archives to find some information on a certain pair of monstrous sisters.

Getting into the Archives isn’t always an easy task, but Rinko does have the rank to make it possible without challenge. Even if she doesn’t really like being a niumara sometimes, it does have a lot of advantages. Like being able to hunt down the history of these two girls she wants to find. Odds are that, if they’re off the scale, she won’t find much, probably just a record of them existing at some point, but anything she can find is worth it.

The Archives are an ominous place, built deep within the spire of stone that forms the core of the city. The pulsing blue lights only add to the unsettling feeling within the tight space.

Rinko approaches one of the search stones, which begins to glow when she gets close enough. When she touches it, her vision fades to nothing and the rest of the world around her is gone. The loss of sense always scares her at first, but it happens every time. She just pushes out the thought to find anyone who had rankless children within a range of years just around her own birth, and her world snaps back to life again.

The stone switches from a silvery white to brilliant green, a sign there are records that match her prompt. A hidden panel in the wall slides out, opening a route into the complete records contained within the Archives. The doorway glows a soft purple, the color of the Shirokanes and the color any of the results will glow for her to find. The magic in the system recognized her, and matched the color as such. Had it not, it would have simply turned white.

Rinko sets off down into the winding maze of the Archives, following the branching pathways of glow along the floor. It’s going to be a long day down here.

There aren’t that many results, but that makes it harder to find them, because there are so many records and so few results she needs. Hopefully she’ll find what she needs easily. Someone (or two, if she can find both parents) with two rankless daughters.

Compared to the entrance of the Archives, it’s much darker within the record halls. There is minimal lighting to make it easier to spot a glowing result, but to anyone who doesn’t have good vision in the dark, things are uncomfortably difficult to see. Sadly, Rinko is of the kind that lacks dark vision. Well, Yukina doesn’t seem to have problems either, as far as Rinko has been able to tell, but the princess also can’t see, so differences in lighting don’t affect her at all. She’ll have a whole lot of near misses or minor collisions either way.

Eventually, Rinko starts to spot her results. The first few she finds don’t match, only showing a single child within the age range that’s rankless.

But then she finds something. It doesn’t exactly match what she’s expecting, but it’s as close as she’s found yet. And besides one little detail, everything else is perfect.

A woman with two rankless children, one a few months younger than Rinko, the other about a year younger than that. Red hair, red fins. Besides the blue eyes and solid color fins listed, she probably looked a lot like the older of the pair.

It’s a bit weird that the younger is not listed as a girl in the records, but the older clearly referred to the younger as a girl. It’s not unheard of to present and act the opposite though. After all, Yukina’s twin guards are some of those. The only real difference by appearance is whether someone has some sort of distinct facial markings or not, anyway, and Rinko wasn’t close enough to see if either sister had any. Yukina has her gold scales, Rinko has small dark stripes under her eyes, while both Hikawas have essentially nothing of the sort. And it’s no big deal in the end.

But most importantly, it gives her a name to search for: Udagawa.

Thanks to a nearby search stone within the halls, she switches her search to what should give her exactly two results. Rankless, within a very narrow age range, and with the last name Udagawa. With so few results, a rare occurrence happens in the Archives. Along the floor, a pathway illuminates, a single line to her results. They’re together.

Rinko knows exactly what one of the sisters should be listed as, since the older had a name to her record. And sure enough, once she follows the path to her goal, one of them has the name she thought she’d find.

Tomoe Udagawa, who’s record hasn’t been updated in nearly seventeen years. The only data for her is the bare minimum that’s required, just her hair color (red), fin color (red and purple), eye color (also red), rank (none), birthdate, and condition (unknown, presumed dead). Clearly, she’s been off the scale so long, there’s been no way to keep track of any changes or additional information for her. Her sister is no different in terms of lack of detail, with only the most basic information possible on hers too.

At least Rinko knows her name without needing it from the record, if what she heard was correct.

Tomoe and Ako Udagawa. The girls she wants to find again.

It’s not going to be an easy task, but she’s going to do it. It doesn’t matter how long. She’ll make it happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This went on longer than I thought, but it’s still shorter than I plan on usually making chapters. I just thought it would work better on its own, so I did that.
> 
> Hopefully this bit of worldbuilding and other nonsense feels... mostly in character. Rinko internally rambles in the game, and I ramble in my writing, so it kinda merged into one with this.


	3. Request

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Udagawas receive an unexpected visitor, with an even more unexpected request for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no update, huh? I got really stuck throughout this because first of all, dialogue is hard for me, and then this was meant to be twice as long, but I realized there was a small time skip transition and just... ended it at that instead, and what was going to continue this will just be the next update instead! Thank you for waiting for me on this, we’re finally gonna see some stuff begin to move here.

Fear sinks in Tomoe’s chest as someone knocks on the door, an unfamiliar pattern. Tsugumi, Ran, and Moca all have their own unique way of knocking to let whoever’s around know it’s them, but this doesn’t match any of those.

Tomoe and Ako both shoot across the room to hide at Himari’s signal, and Himari goes to open the door. From their place they can see who it is, and everything is clearly not good. It’s the high ranking girl from a few days ago, and somehow, she’s found them.

Himari doesn’t know that, but she still freezes up at being face to face with someone more than twice her rank. “Can I help you, ma’am?” she asks, trying to mask the note of fear in her voice. She moves out of the doorway, letting the girl inside.

“D-do Tomoe and Ako Udagawa live here?”

Why does she sound scared? She has no reason to be, with her status. She outranks Himari by at least five, if not six, so Himari doesn’t have much of a choice but to listen to her.

She doesn’t seem to have a very strong voice either way. It’s low, but quiet and gentle. No power to it, despite her rank.

“I-I can just go i-if I heard wrong...”

“N-no! You’re not wrong, they do live here!” Himari’s tail swishes back and forth, almost apologetically.

“Can I... speak to them, p-please? If they’re here right now.”

Tomoe slowly peeks out from her hiding spot. Ako follows behind, although less slowly.

“Uh, hey. You need us for something?”

The girl’s purple eyes flicker with surprise. “Y-yes. I have something I’d like to ask you... if you d-don’t mind...”

“Ma’am, I don’t think we have much of a right to refuse.” Tomoe almost laughs at her own comment, surprised at her own ability to almost be casual in this scenario.

“I s-suppose you’re right... most can’t refuse the request of a niumara like me...” Her voice trails off into incoherent mumbles, blunt claws awkwardly tapping together.

She’s a _niumara_?! And so nervously polite?! She tops the main ranks, could do practically whatever she wants without anyone besides her family and the royals stopping her, and yet she’s still asking for permission to speak from a triima and two rankless?

Clearly, Himari and Ako are just as shocked. Himari’s green eyes shimmer with surprise and she straightens up. Ako, on the other hand, bites her lip, causing some of her many blade-sharp teeth to poke out, while she nervously fidgets with the fins on her wrists.

(It reminds Tomoe of her own habit of doing so, until the fin on her left was almost entirely ripped off. She knows Ako picked it up from her anyway, so of course it’s familiar.)

The girl straightens up a little, trying to look as confident as she can. Besides her ranking, she’s not all that threatening though, considering she’s smaller than everyone else here and looks kind of squishy under the fancy, flowing clothes. “A-anyway! Tomoe and Ako Udagawa, I am R-Rinko Shirokane.”

Finally, a name. The last name is familiar... but considering how few niumara families there are and that most people know the names of some, if not all of them, that’s no surprise.

“I have been on a search... to recruit someone to be my personal guard... and I’d like to ask you two to do it. But o-only... only if you’re willing. I d-don’t want someone forced into the p-position.”

Tomoe doesn’t hesitate with her response. “What’s in it for us?” If she’s making it an offer and not an order, then Tomoe is going to make sure it’s worth their time.

Rinko’s eyes widen and her ear fins flick to attention momentarily. Yet her reply is the calmest she’s sounded so far. “I can get you onto the ranks.”

A single phrase.

One that could change their lives.

But how does she know they’re rankless?

Rinko continues, “You m-might be some of the most threatening p-people I’ve met... but you aren’t so abnormally monstrous in appearance, b-besides your sizes and the sharpness of your teeth and claws. A-and those two can be hidden pretty easily, so the size would be the only issue. But you aren’t so large as to be u-unbelievable either. I could... probably get you two registered as eiterrei instead... without much of a problem... and the pay from my family... would bring you up from there. E-even if we can’t change your ranking originally, that could probably do it alone.”

It feels like a miracle. Or maybe a dream. Like soon enough, something will happen and, surprise, it’s all a lie. Hopes, dreams, chances, all crushed in an instant.

“I-I-I know it would be a lot of work... and it’s a bit sudden to ask when y-you don’t even know me... but if you’re willing to be my personal guards... I’d really like that.”

Ako looks over at Tomoe, expression filled with doubt, before turning back to Rinko. “Can we have time to think about it?” she asks. “I like the idea, but I don’t know if I’m ready to commit to something like that immediately.”

Rinko nods. “Th-that’s fine... I can come back in a couple days... if you think you’ll have a decision by then.”

“I think we’ll be able to choose by then! That okay with you, sis?”

“Yeah, I think that’ll be fine. I’m sorry for wasting your time, Shirokane-san, with us being unable to decide right away.”

“I-it’s not a problem, really... it was my choice to come here. I’ll go now, I guess...”

Rinko turns for the door, and leaves without another word.

As soon as she’s gone, Himari drops any semblance of calm she had left. “What the HELL was that, guys? Was she the girl you talked about? How did she find us?” Her fins flare out in frustration, a little thing that would make her a whole lot more threatening if she weren’t a multitude of shades of pink and relatively small compared to the sisters. They return back to their relaxed state as soon as Himari finishes yelling and cools down a bit.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting that either, yes she was but I had no idea we were dealing with a fucking niumara, I also don’t know that, she must’ve somehow traced our connections or heard some rumors about us,” Tomoe shoots back just as fast. “Goddamn. We definitely need to talk with the whole group about this.”

“Yeah. But can we call a meeting that fast?”

“We probably can, Hii-chan, if we tell Tsugu-chin that she needs to keep Ran-chan and Moca-chan from going out tomorrow! Or I can go on my own to tell Tsugu-chin, if you don’t mind that. I need to get out anyway, I’m tired of being stuck inside again, and it’s only to the Hazawas!” Ako flaps her tail excitedly, causing her to start drifting across the room.

“I think this is more of a group explanation kind of thing, Ako,” Tomoe laughs, reaching over to stop Ako and then ruffle her sister’s purple curls. “Not that I don’t trust you to do it, but do you really think Tsugu is gonna believe all of that from only one of us? It’s kinda a crazy situation.”

Ako pushes Tomoe’s hand off, but turns and smiles about as wide as she can, causing the scarred notch in her lip to only become more obvious and open. It’s cute, in the weird way Ako can be. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Are we all set then? ‘Cause we can get just get going,” Himari interrupts.

Both sisters nod, and the three set out into the city. It’s not far to the Hazawas, although it does mean going down further. While the Ueharas are lucky enough to be triima and live in a higher area of what is considered the bottom of the city, the Hazawas are only duxoryn, and even though they live about as far up as they can manage, it’s still further from the border between sections. Their place isn’t incredibly difficult to find, the small cafe being one of the most maintained buildings in the area.

Inside there are a few customers, plus the girl they’re looking for. Tsugumi’s relaxed at the moment, just keeping an eye out in case anyone needs her. As the trio enters, she looks up and her whole face lights up with happiness. “Hey! What’s up?” she asks after swimming over.

“It’s a lot, Tsugu,” Tomoe sighs. “You got time to listen?”

“Hm...” She taps a speckled claw to her chin in thought. “Well, it isn’t that busy right now, so I guess I have time, but I’m still gonna be needed, so can you three try to keep it on the shorter end?”

“We’ll try! But it’s kinda a long story, or at least one that needs a hell of a lot of explanation...”

————

Luckily, they finish with only minor interruptions, but by the end, Tsugumi looks absolutely shocked. She agrees to hold Ran and Moca back, so that they can all meet up in the next day.

Well, there’s going to be a hell of a lot to discuss again. But hopefully it will help them sort everything out, because they don’t exactly have a lot of time to get it all set.


	4. Discuss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group of childhood friends tries to decide how to approach the decision in front of them as best as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back again after... too long. Revue starlight really distracted me though, I’ve been extremely focused on those theater girls and forgot to make progress on this once I got stuck at a weird point. But I’m back again! Don’t expect this to stop any time soon, I know where I’m going with this in the end. I’m just slow to update lol

The group meets before the shop even opens, all six girls settling in around a table to discuss the best plan... after a long explanation. It’s not a challenge to meet before it opens, so long as Moca can be dragged awake in time. Today, that succeeded, even if she’s kinda half asleep still, her normally bright green glow currently dimmed and her head practically resting on the table.

Well, no one is extremely awake yet, but it’s early, so it’s no surprise. The Udagawas seem mostly awake, both filled with restless energy, but neither is as ready as they seem.

Moca tilts her head up just enough to look at everyone. “So~? Why’d you make me wake up so early? It’s gotta be pretty important if you’re depriving the precious Moca-chan of her sleep.” She doesn’t actually seem upset, mostly just joking.

“Yeah. You guys usually don’t call meetings for any random reason.” Ran is just as mildly annoyed for having to do anything this early as the others.

Tomoe, Ako, and Himari share looks with each other, and the story begins again.

They try to keep it shorter this time, just covering the most important parts, trying to minimize explanation unless someone asks. (It does end up involving more explanation than they tried to limit it to.) The sisters accidentally got the attention of a niumara, thought it was a bad thing, but then she asked them to be her guards instead. And now they’re trying to decide what to do with this whole situation. Do they accept her offer or not?

“So yeah. Long story short, that’s what’s going on,” Tomoe sighs. “We’ve got today and tomorrow to decide what we’re gonna do, then she’s coming back.”

Tsugumi only looks slightly less shocked than the first time around. Ran looks nervous, her ear fins fluttering slowly as the main way of showing it. She isn’t that expressive outside of her fins, anyway.

Moca, unlike the others, is mostly calm, slightly lost in thought. Suddenly, she perks up, like she has an idea. “Moca-chan might be able to get you some inside details~. Give me a day and I’ll get you anything I can find out.”

“Does this have anything to do with where you disappear to practically every day?” Ran huffs.

“Perhaps~,” Moca laughs. “Not that you need to know, Ran~.”

A small flash of anger passes through magenta eyes as Ran glares at Moca. Harmless, but she’s annoyed at Moca being vague again.

“Anyway!” Tsugumi interrupts. “I think it’s mostly a good idea. I know it’s hard for you two to find any sort of reliable job, and now one is practically being handed right to you. But if Moca-chan can get us more information first, it might be a good idea to find out still. She seems nice from what you guys have said, considering she’s offering something as important as a job like that and also gave you a chance to fix a mistake rather than having you killed instantly. I know most high ranks wouldn’t have done that, even for someone higher than you, like me. But I don’t think we want to find out that our perception is wrong.”

Ako leans forward with a sigh. “Why does this have to be so complicated...”

“Dude, our entire lives are complicated.” As much as it is a dark phrase, Tomoe tries to play it off jokingly. “It’d be a miracle we’re alive, except for the fact that we’ve got all of you guys.“

“Well, hopefully Shirokane-san can make things easier on you two!”

“Hii-chan, we’re being hired as guards. It’s not gonna be that simple, as awesome as it sounds,” Ako mumbles with her face fully on the table.

“Hey! I can be hopeful for you! You’re practically my sisters, can’t I want the best for you?”

Tomoe laughs at how riled up Himari is getting, and places a hand on the pink girl’s shoulder to calm her down. Her fins flutter back to their neutral position and she laughs awkwardly along.

“I don’t think I have anything important to add,” Ran comments. “We should probably head off and let Moca get us our information. Then just meet here again later, or tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is better for Moca-chan~. Gives me more time for any of those juicy details.”

“Moca! Don’t phrase it like that!”

“But that’s what they are, Hii-chan~.”

“No, they’re not! It’s just information about Shirokane-san, not anything that would be considered “juicy”. It’s just weird if you say that!”

“You never know~.” Moca winks.

Tomoe practically slams her hands on the table, jolting everyone to attention. “Well, we should get going. Thanks for the advice everyone!”

“You’re welcome, and good luck!” Tsugumi chirps. Ran nods encouragingly in agreement.

And with that, the group splits apart.

————

Moca finds herself traveling into the upper reaches with far more of a purpose than usual. Well, she always has a reason for going up. No low rank would even consider it without a reason, especially not a nearly rankless eiterrei like herself.

Through the familiar but ever uncomfortable routes she goes, until she spots a familiar form of warm colors.

Target acquired.

Moca darts up behind the other mermaid and drapes herself over their back. Her target laughs, a warm, inviting sound.

“So what’s up, Moca?” she asks, twisting to face the girl on her back as best as possible.

“Moca-chan needs a favor from you, Lisa-san... What do you know about Rinko Shirokane?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took far longer to write than planned, and isn’t even as long as I would’ve liked it to be... I would’ve kept going, but I couldn’t help but end it on that bit of dialogue. Next time will be another afterglow scene. And actual progress.


	5. Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moca has a story to tell, and the sisters have an answer to their doubts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me, updating... slightly faster than usual. I could’ve been done a bit sooner but got stuck at how to phrase some stuff, but that’s fine. It’s still done!

The next day starts like the previous, but not quite so early. The group of six is gathered around a table yet again, this time with most of them anxiously waiting for the news.

“Well everyone,” Moca purrs, “my darling insider did have some information on our dear Rinko-san~. She told me...”

————

“Oh, Rinko? I’ve met her before, but it’s been a while.” Lisa’s scarlet fins flutter awkwardly. “I can’t guarantee anything I know is particularly up to date.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine~. Any information is more than we have now.”

“We? Wait, hang on a minute. Let’s go somewhere a bit less open.”

They aren’t in a hugely busy area anyway, but they aren’t in a private area either. Lisa sets off as Moca settles into her back, heading to the most secluded spot she knows of.

(Sometimes, Lisa wishes she could just go home if she needed a private conversation with Moca. Her parents would never let Moca in though, regardless of the relationship between the pair.)

Moca doesn’t let go, not even as Lisa stops moving. She thinks Lisa’s back is veeeeery comfortable.

“So anyway, who’s the “we” you were talking about?” Lisa asks.

“Just some friends~. A few Moca-chan’s fellow low ranks.”

“That makes sense, I guess. But it’s oddly specific, why Rinko of all people to need information on? I didn’t think she did all that much.”

A slightly cat-like expression spreads onto Moca’s face. “She’s the possible future employer of a couple of my friends. So we need aaaaaall the juicy details on her that we can get, to make sure taking the job is as good of an idea as it sounds like~.”

Lisa chuckles. “That’s fair, but did you really need to call it juicy?”

“Of course~.”

That earns a small sigh from Lisa and a laugh from Moca at Lisa’s reaction.

“Anyway~, you want information. I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Thank you, Lisa-san~.”

“At least as of last time I met her, Rinko was an absolute sweetheart. She doesn’t act like her ranking at all, honestly. Kinda shy and sweet, y’know? And she didn’t seem to enjoy being such a high rank anyway, like she doesn’t think she’s deserving of it. But overall, she seemed to be a pretty nice girl, definitely trustable if she’s still the same way now. Basically, she’s probably a very good high rank to be hired by.”

“Hehe~, good to know~.”

————

Moca finishes summarizing that conversation, minus Lisa’s name.

“So, we should take the job then?” Tomoe asks, ever so slightly confused by Moca’s chosen ways of phrasing the information.

“Yep~, seems like Rinko-san should be relatively trustable. Plus she’s real rich, since you said she’s a niumara. Go make that money, Tomo-chin~, Ako-chin~.”

Ako sighs, relieved. “I didn’t think she was dangerous considering she let me off the hook with what I did, but you know how it is, high ranks like to manipulate us. She seemed nice but... it could’ve been a trick. Doesn’t seem like she’d be the type to trick us now, though.” Her tongue sticks out in thought.

Himari grabs Tomoe and Ako and pulls them in for a hug. “Be safe out there, okay? I’m proud of you guys, and I’m excited to see you finally get a ranking, but this is still a dangerous job!” She releases them and backs up a bit. “And if you come back any worse than you already are, I’ll fight whoever did it to you!” Her fins flare up as she tries to make herself look more powerful.

“I’m pretty sure we’re better off in a fight than you are, Himari,” Tomoe laughs.

“Doesn’t matter! I’ll find a way to beat them up!”

That gets the rest of the group to laugh too, and Himari pouts.

“But seriously! You guys got this, you’ll do great out there. And we should probably head back soon, I don’t wanna be late.”

Both sisters nod. “Well, hopefully next time we see you guys, we’ll actually be on the ranks. Pretty exciting, huh. Maybe it’ll be pretty soon, who knows!” Tomoe says, as the three turn to leave.

————

The trip back home is as uneventful as it’s ever been, but the tension between them is hard to ignore. Excitement and fear, blending together into some weird feeling around them.

They’ve just gotta hope things will be as fine as they want.

They haven’t been home long when the same knock as a couple days ago sounds on the door. Open the door, and to no surprise, Rinko is there.

She looks to the two sisters and asks, “S-so, have you decided?”

The sisters share a look, and nod. “Yep! We wanna work with you!” Ako chirps, almost too informal for a conversation with a niumara.

Rinko doesn’t seem to mind, though. “I’m glad... Anyway, w-we can go now... I h-have some people I’d like you to meet... Unless you have anything you need to do last minute... then I can wait. You won’t need to bring anything with you, th-though. You’ll get everything you need later.”

“I think we’re fine, Shirokane-san.”

“O-oh. Then let’s go...”

She leads the sisters outside, ready to take them all the way up to the upper spires of the city.

Just before the door closes, Himari waves goodbye to the two girls who’ve basically been her sisters for most of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it’ll be like... one, two more chapters before things start to pick up a bit? We’ll see exactly as I write, but we’re approaching that point

**Author's Note:**

> Ranking reference guide:  
> 0- Rankless  
> 1- Eiterrei  
> 2- Duxoryn  
> 3- Triima  
> 4- Fortanme  
> 5- Criceon  
> 6- Xitesen  
> 7- Sevralet  
> 8- Ocaer  
> 9- Niumara  
> 10- Royalty
> 
> Want to talk to me about this au? Here’s [my twitter](https://twitter.com/W1F1N1GHTM4R3) and [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/W1F1N1GHTM4R3)!


End file.
